The hook-nosed man felt a chill.
"Joseph's death is no accident; I'm the only one who foresaw it." Realizing the gravity of the situation, he took out his voice recorder.
"To make Joseph want to die, you must first make him lose hope in his daughter, which is a long process. Start by making him doubt Li Congjing; it's easy to exploit her weaknesses." The old man coughed, his health failing.
The hook-nosed man breathed rapidly, eager to know Li Congjing's weaknesses.
"You think Li Congjing is insane, but she's not. She has humanity, compassion, sympathy, and kindness, easily hindered by emotional ties."
"I used this to create Joseph's distrust. He never tried to trust anyone again."
"Then I approached from the daughter's angle; Joseph is a genius with few flaws. I changed the daughter's mindset, deepening his doubts."
"He has no mercy, nor respect for his loved ones, and resorts to extremes to obtain his daughter. It's laughable that the daughter thought she trapped me, seeking revenge..."
"I used psychological schemes to make Joseph realize killing his lover was wrong; he never considered himself a madman. Ultimately, he didn't harm his daughter, only imprisoned her."
"I made him view love as life, become someone who wished to die when losing it." The old man laughed mockingly, "I thought it was redemption, like I once believed my own redemption..."
"This is redemption for people like us." The recorder was silent, broken. The hook-nosed man stood still, pondering long but unable to change Joseph's mind.
This person, who once stormed the world, is indeed formidable. He was once on par with his elders, conversing freely...
Meanwhile, Lin Beichen and Xia Luyao were searching the room, and Lin Beichen found the door. "This design has issues; what's the use if the door is blocked?" Lin Beichen complained.
The door was much smaller than other doors in the base, appearing abrupt, so it's hard for a common person to think there's a door amidst the mechanical pile.
Xia Luyao lowered her head to find a switch, casually saying, "Maybe they made this door just to show control over the base."
She didn't realize she was speaking of Joseph and Li Congjing's original intent... The room was now a chaotic mess.
The clutter sufficient to cover such a small door was overwhelming, and Lin Beichen, acting as a porter, was nearly speechless from exhaustion.
Hadn't it been clearly marked on the map provided by Li Congjing that the door existed, Lin Beichen and Xia Luyao wouldn't have expended such effort searching amidst the clutter for an inconspicuous small door.
They might have tried various mechanisms, searching for other entrances. However, in such a densely populated area, hiding the door is evidently safer than setting complex mechanisms.
In this heavily guarded base, although soldiers are vigilant, few would randomly rummage through these items.
Of course, there would always be some soldiers performing inexplicable actions for various reasons. Xia Luyao searched for a long time but failed to find the switch to open the door, anxiously asking, "Where exactly is the entrance switch?"
Sitting on the floor, Lin Beichen took out the map for a closer look and finally discovered two lines of small text in a corner.
He hesitated for a moment, then said to Xia Luyao, "I think we might not need to find a switch anymore."
Xia Luyao glanced back at the map in Lin Beichen's hand and complained, "The map has markings; why didn't you tell me earlier?"
The reason Lin Beichen didn't initially remind Xia Luyao was that he truly didn't expect the deeply hidden door hadn't a physical switch.
It turned out that this door wasn't a traditional switch door but a password door.
Lin Beichen revealed the answer: "The password is 'For you, thousands of times over.'"
This phrase clearly evoked the profound bond between Joseph and Li Congjing, making their emotion feel strong as steel.
Though Xia Luyao found the phrase overly romantic, she still approached the door and softly uttered the password.
With a response, the door opened, revealing a passage gleaming with blue metallic sheen, light illuminating from above, seeming endless at a glance.
Looking at this intricately designed passage, it's easy to imagine Joseph's arduous effort to protect his and Li Congjing's world.
Xia Luyao turned back to Lin Beichen, who had already stood up, motioning him to follow.
Lin Beichen stretched his muscles and followed Xia Luyao into the narrow passage.
About the concerns of Siphet, Asia had no time to deal with at the moment.
He had ample time to contemplate and decide, but now he was more focused on his injuries and subsequent actions.
Lin Beichen also found the design of the passage puzzling, not understanding why it was narrower than the door.
Maybe because the doors hidden in the workshop weren't Joseph and their frequent routes, or perhaps it was due to Joseph's unique aesthetic perception.
The two walked into the passage, and the base's cameras slightly rotated, capturing their figures.
Xia Luyao seemed to sense something, glanced back but found nothing unusual.
The door slowly descended, and she hurriedly shouted to Lin Beichen ahead, "Hey! Wait for your captain!" Saying that, she quickly chased after him.
Lin Beichen stopped, complaining, "This passage is truly not human-friendly."
Xia Luyao smiled and said, "Yes, if a basketball player came in, I doubt they could even walk." Lin Beichen managed to squeeze out a smile without responding, continuing forward.